Spray guns



Aug. 14, 1956 T. c. L EISENRlNG SPRAY GUNS Filed April 9. 1956 United States Patent() ".[lhis inventionvr relates to a water spray nozzle of the type more particularly designed for use in cleaning and pressing establishments for spraying clothing prior to ironing, and in groceryv and food stores for spraying vegetables and fruits.

The principal object of thev present invention is tolprovide an exceedingly small spray nozzle which will highly atomize. the water to provide a spray approaching the iineness ofy smoke or steam; to provide a spray nozzle which can be instantly and accurately controlled; and to provide a nozzle which will not form drops of water at any time, either during the spraying or at the termination thereof.

Another object of the invention is to provide a nozzleofA this character which can be easily and economically formed as a screw machine product so that manufacturing` costs will be greatly reduced.

Other objects and advantages reside in the detail constructiony ofthe invention, which is designed for simplicity,.economy, and eihciency. These will become more apparent from the following description.

In the following detailed description of the invention,y

Fig. 1 is a full size side elevation of the improvedl nozzle;

Fig. 2V is an enlarged, vertical, longitudinal section through the improved nozzle;

Fig. 3 is a still further enlarged, longitudinal section through the lower portion of the nozzle;

Fig. 4 is a horizontal cross-section taken on the line 4.-4Fig.I 2;

Fig, 5 is an enlarged, detail', sectional view of a plug valve employed in the improved nozzle; and

Fig. 6 is a fragmentary detail sectiontaken on the line 6--6, Fig. 2;

The improved nozzle is formed about an axial water tube 10 which isexternally threaded at. both its upper and lower extremities, andV internally threaded at its lower extremity. A hose coupling 11; provided with standard;A hose threads` 40, isA threaded` onto the upper external threadsof the. watertube- 1.0 and is locked in preset .position on thethreads. byl means-of a locknut 12 whichis threaded.. on the; tube, againsty the lower; extremity of the coupling 11. A wedge-shaped, resilient sealing washer 13 is compressed into a receiving socket in the bottom of the coupling 11 by the lock nut 12 to prevent leakage about the external threads of the water tube.

A nozzle barrel 14 having a closed top and an open bottom is itted over the lower portion of the water tube 10, and the latter is provided with water discharge ports 15 to allow water to discharge from the tube 10 into the barrel 14. The barrel 14 is secured in place on the water tube 10 by means of a lower nut 16 which is ICC threaded onto the lower external threads of the tube. The nut 16 is formed with a downwardly-extending, cylindrical portion 41.

The nut 16 supports` a helical compression spring 17 which surrounds the tube 10. The upper extremity of the spring 17 acts against a gland cup 18 and forces. the latter against a comprensible gland 19 so as` to force the latter into a conical depression 20 in the upper extremity ofthe barrel 14 to. seal the latter extremity of the bar-y rel to the water tube 10.

A prying lever member 21 is positioned aboutthe water tube 10 between the upper` extremity of the barrel 14 and the lock nut 12l and is resiliently clamped between. the latter two elements by the expansive action of the spring 17. The lever 21 terminatesin a grip. handle 22 extending downwardly and outwardly alongside the barrel 14. A` locking tongue 23 is stamped from and. bent downwardly from the lever 21 to extend into a re ceiving notch 24 formed in the upper extremity of the barrel. The tongue 23 acts to prevent relative rotation between. the barrel 14 and the handle 22, and also serves. as a prying. fulcrum for the lever 21. .As the handle 22 is, moved. toward the barrel 14, the tongue 23 will engage the bottom of its notch 24 so that the extremity of the lever about they water tube 10 will act upwardly against the handle 22 while the locking tongue pries the barrel 14v downwardly to urge the two apart.

A resilient, conical plug valve 25 is moldedV about a threaded stud 26 which is threaded into the internal threads in the lower extremity of the water tube 10 so as to seal oif the latter and iixedly maintain the valve thereon. The valve 25 is provided with a peripheral flange 27, the upper surface of which is formed with an annular groove wlhich. forms an upturned feather-edge 28' about the flange. The ange 27 is axially slidabl'e in a guide cup 29 which surrounds and is spaced from the l cylindrical portion 41 of the nut 16. The cup 29 is formed on a cylindrical orifice block 30 provided with an upper lconical depression 32, into which the. conical` plug valve 25 extends, and with a second conical depression 31` in its lower surface. The bottoms of the two depressions 31 and 32 are iiat and are spaced from each other by a relatively thin partition portion 33 provided with a central spray orifice 34.

The outer wall of the orifice block 30 is inset to pro? vide a peripheral water chamber 35. A plurality, preferably two, of tangential water passages 36 extend' fromthe. water chamber 35 through the wall of the first depression 32; The water passages 36 are exceedingly small, approximately No; 44 drill, and they extend tangentially ink av common direction to the circumference ofthe partition portion 33. The-spray orifice 34 is sub'- stantially the samev diameter as the'passages 36;

The lower extremity of the orifice block 30 is provided with a peripheral ange 37 which is clamped against a seali'ng'gasket` 38, andthe latter is clamped against the lower extremity of the barrel 14 by means of a knurledi terminal cap 39 which is threaded upon external threadsl formed on the open lower extremity of the barrel 1 4;

In use, the improved spray nozzle is mountedI on` theA ex-tremity'ofi a` waterV hose, theterminal'fitting-ofthe hose being threaded-Sinto theinternalthreadsfl() ofithe` couplingl 11. The water from the hose will flow into the tube 10 and through the ports 15 into the barrel 14. The pressure of the water within the guide cup 29 expands the feather edge 28 of the resilient ange 27 against the wall of the cup so that the water cannot pass downwardly within the cup to the upper depression 32. The water therefore must ow externally of the cup 29 to the water chamber 35.

When the barrel 14 and the handle 22 are gripped by the hand toward each other, the plug valve 25 and the partition portion 33 will separate, allowing jets of water to enter the first depression 32 to create a whirling action therein. The whirling water then exits through the discharge orifice 34 in an exceedingly fine, steam-like, atomized spray. When the handle 22 is released, the spring 17 rmly forces the plug valve into the upper depression 32 to seal the passages 26 and the discharge orifice 34. Due to the resiliency of the material of the plug valve 2S, it will expand under the action of the spring 17 to completely fill the upper depression 32.

It has been found, with certain types of spray nozzles, that when they are shut oif a small amount of water will remain in the discharge passages exteriorly of the valve, and this water will form a drop which is exceedingly annoying when it drops upon fabrics in a pressing establishment. It will be noted that the only discharge passage in this improved nozzle is the discharge orifice 34, and the length of this orice equals only the thickness of the partition portion 33, which is exceedingly thin, being approximately .007 of an inch. Therefore, it is irnpossible for suflicient water to be retained to form a drop. Any moisture remaining in the orice 34 will be retained by capillary attraction.

While a specific form of the improvement has been described and illustrated herein, it is desired to be understood that the same may be varied, within the scope of the appended claims, without departing from the spirit of the invention.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed and desired secured by Letters Patent is:

l. A spray nozzle comprising: a water tube having upper and lower external threads and lower internal threads; a hose coupling threaded upon the upper external threads of said water tube; a lock nut threaded against said coupling; a sealing washer compressed by said lock nut into a cavity in said coupling about said threads; a tubular barrel surrounding the lower extremity of said water tube, said barrel having a closed upper extremity and an externally threaded open lower extremity; a lower nut threaded on said Water tube within said barrel; a spring compressed between said nut and the closed upper extremity of said barrel so as to constantly urge said barrel upwardly; a valve member mounted on the lower extremity of said water tube and extending downwardly therefrom; an orice member mounted in the open lower extremity of said barrel and provided with a central spray orice, said spring acting to force said orice block against said valve member to maintain said spray orice closed; and means for urging said valve member from said orifice member to open said spray orifice.

2. A spray nozzle comprising: a Water tube having upper and lower external threads and lower internal threads; a hose coupling threaded upon the upper external threads of said water tube; a lock nut threaded against said coupling; a sealing washer compressed by said lock nut into a cavity in said coupling about said threads; a tubular barrel surrounding the lower extremity of said water tube, said barrel having a closed upper extremity and an externally threaded open lower extremity; a lower nut threaded on said water tube within said barrel; a spring compressed between said nut and the closed upper extremity of said barrel so as to constantly urge said barrel upwardly; a valve member mounted on the lower extremity of said water Ytube and extending downwardly therefrom; an orice member mounted in the open lower extremity of said barrel; an upper conical cavity formed in said orifice member; a lower conical cavity formed in said orifice member; a relatively thin, flat partition portion forming the bottoms of and separating said two cavities; a central spray orice formed in said partition portion against which said plug valve is urged by said spring; manual means for separating said plug valve and said partition portion; and means for supplying water from said water tube to said upper depression.

3. A spray nozzle as described in claim 2 in which the means for supplying water comprises: an annular water chamber surrounding said orifice block, said water chamber being in communication with the interior of said barrel so as to receive water therefrom; and a plurality of tangentially positioned water passages extending from said Water chamber to said upper depression.

4. A spray nozzle as described in claim 3 having a guide cup extending upwardly from said orice block and surrounding said plug valve; and a resilient ilange formed on said plug valve and extending into sealing relation with said cup to prevent water from ilowing from said cup to said upper depression.

5. A spray nozzle as described in claim 4, in which the ange on said plug valve has an upwardly extending feathered edge adapted to be forced against the internal wall of said cup by the pressure of the Water on said flange.

6. A valve for spray nozzles of the type having a water tube and a longitudinally movable barrel surrounding said water tube, comprising: a resilient plug valve; a threaded stud molded into said plug valve and threaded into the lower extremity of said water tube; a circular orifice block; a peripheral lower flange formed on said block; a terminal cap threaded on said barrel and acting against said flange to support said block within the lower extremity of said barrel; a guide cup extending upwardly from said block about the lower extremity of said Water tube and about said valve; an upper depression formed in said block into which said valve extends; a flange formed on said valve and acting to seal the latter within said guide cup; an annular water chamber surrounding said orifice block; water passages extending from said water chamber into said upper depression at a tangent to the circumference of the latter; and a spray orifice formed in the bottom of said upper depression.

7. A Valve for spray nozzles as described in claim 6 having a lower depression extending upwardly into said orifice block, said two depressions being separated by a relatively thin, flat partition portion `containing said spray oriiice.

8. A valve for spray nozzles as described in claim 7 having an upwardly extending, relatively thin, feathered edge on said ange to enable the pressure of the water thereon to spread said ange against the internal wall of said guide cup.

References Cited in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,281,142 Davis Apr. 28, 1942 2,457,993 Fletcher et al .l an. 4, 1949 2,576,534 Paasche Nov. 27, 1951 2,623,790 Smith Dec. 30, 1952 

